Clothing brand unveils Pangaia Health brand and functional superfood bar

21 Mar 2022 --- Clothing brand Pangaia is launching a superfood bar, combining functional nutrition, biotech and food science.

The brand’s foray into the superfood category comes under the umbrella of its Pangaia Health brand and its first product category – Pangaia Superfoods.

“We are driven by a vision of ‘hi-tech naturalism’ across our products. We look to bring the brilliance of nature complimented with today’s food science to create solutions that promote health,” says Ira Laufer, CEO at Pangaia Health.

According to the company, Pangaia Superfoods will provide biotech-enabled functional foods made with environmentally friendly ingredients. The brand is releasing its Super Super Bars, with the Prickly Pear + Goji Berry Super Super Bar being the first in the portfolio.

“As Pangaia launches into this new category, we are focused on eliminating many of the most damaging aspects of the food industry to help our community harness the abundance of nature and convert it into tangible and effective wellness solutions.”

A functional bar packed with nutrients
The Prickly Pear + Goji Berry Super Super Bar is a plant-based superfood bar created with prickly pear, goji berries, sprouted red quinoa and coconut. The 50 g bar is high in fiber and gluten-free.

According to the brand, the prickly pear within the bar is a good source of iron, magnesium, vitamin C, potassium, calcium and vitamin B6. Meanwhile, the goji berry is a good source of minerals and vitamins A and C. The sprouted red quinoa is positioned as a “more easily digestible form of quinoa,” containing proteins and minerals.The launch of the brand and product is “significant” as it combines biotech, food science, nature and functional nutrition into convenient and carbon-neutral products.

To add to this, the Prickly Pear + Goji Berry Super Super Bar contains DouxMatok’s Incredo sugar. This Incredo sugar technology boosts the concentration of natural cane sugar at taste receptors, allowing companies to formulate with half the sugar while maintaining the same sweetness and flavor.

The Prickly Pear + Goji Berry Super Super Bar also contains meltec fiber. The vegetable fiber mixture has a syrup-like consistency, no added sugar and partially upcycled ingredients derived from corn and legume fibers.

Innova Market Insights states that superfoods can be categorized as foods with superior nutritional value, adding that foods with approved health claims are considered to fall under this term.

Environmentally friendly endeavors
Pangaia Superfoods was developed to meet carbon neutrality, tree growth and eco-conscious packaging. The Super Super Bars have made investments in clean energy projects such as wind, solar and biomass energy to offset carbon emissions.

In an attempt to keep packaging to a minimum, the Super Super Bar wrapper is recyclable and degrades in household and industrial compost, notes the company.

Focusing on keeping the global food supply chain intact, the brand states it will support one trillion bees with every box purchased. This will be done by supporting the “Bee The Change” fund, which supports bumblebee reintroduction programs, pollinator survival, biodiversity, sustainable farming methods and ecosystem restoration.

Pangaia Health’s superfood bars will be available for purchase online from March 24.

In taking a look at functional bars, NZMP unveiled the top trends within the nutrition bar space and noted that the consumption of bars has increased as a result of their status as a healthy snack option for busy consumers. Nutritional bars have dominated snack releases in the US, the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia for the past five years.

Edited by Nicole Kerr